Removable stanchion for protective railings



M. GRAY April 6, 1943.

REMOVABLE STANCHIONS FOR PROTECTIVE RAILINGS Filed April 6, 1942Marsha/l Gray Patented Apr. 6, 1943 2,315,5lii

REMOVABLE STANCHION FORI PRUTECTEVE RAILING'S Marshall Gray, St. Louis,Mo.

Application April 6, 1942, Serial No. 437,753

(Cl. E56-l) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1383, as

amended April 30, 1928K; 370 O. G. '757) 4 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or forthe Government for governmental purposes, without payment to me of anyroyalty thereon.

This invention relates to protective railing for use on a surface andmore particularly it is directed to removable stanchions for theprotective railing.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a protective railingincluding removable stanehions adapted to be easily and quickly raisedout of a surface into an operative position for supporting a railmember, and easily and quickly lowered into an inoperative positionwithin the surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide casings adapted to beplaced at spaced points below a surface, and stanchions for the protective railing removably mounted in the casings, said stanchions adaptedto be rigidly supported in an operative position on the casings abovethe surface.

The present invention is directed particularly to removable stanchionswhich may be easily and quickly positioned in an operative position onboats for providing supports for a life-line to protect the employees ona deck from the danger of falling orf, and which, during loadingoperations may be easily and quickly placed in an inoperative positionso as not to interfere with the loading devices. Some other applicationsof the invention may be on transportation barges where it is desirableto allocate certain areas to certain types of commodities, also onbuildings and wharves for temporarily allocating certain areas andproviding safety railing on walls, bridges, dams, and highways or thelike.

Briefly stated, the improved invention com' prises casings adapted to bemounted in openings provided at spaced points within a floor or othersurface, with the upper ends of the oasings being provided with hangedrings which are suitably secured to the lower inner surface of the dooraround the openings, stanchions adapted to be lowered into and slidablymounted on the covers removably mounted on the upper ends of thestanchions and adapted to fit into said openings, with the uppersurfaces of the covers being ush with the floor, whereby when thestanchions are lowered into the casings no obstruction is provided inthe floor, said stanchiens adapted to be raised substantially out of thecasings and detachably locked in a raised or operative position forsupporting chains forming the protective railing of the invention, saidchains being adapted to be detachably connected between the covers onthe upper ends of the stanchiens when forming the protective railing andto be placed in the stanchions and lowered therewith into the casingswhen not in use.

With the above and other objects and adfvann tages in View, theinvention consists of certain novel features of construction andoperation of parts, as will be more fully described and particularlypointed out in the specication, draw ing, and claims appended hereto.

In the drawing, which illustrates an embodiment of the invention, andwherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section, of a pair ofcasings mounted beneath a surface and illustrating the stanchions in araised locked position on the casings, with a chain forming theprotective railing removably connected between the covers on the upperends of the stanchions;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View, partly in section,of one of the casings having a stanchion lowered therein andillustrating the manner of supporting a chain within the stanchion whennot in use, with the cover on the upper end of the stanchion fitted intoan opening in the iloor and being flush with the upper surface of thefloor, thereby eliminating any obstruction thereon;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view illustrating thestanchion, being partially raised out of the casing, with the cover onthe upper end of the stanchion removed therefrom and having a chaindetachably connected thereto;

Fig. Il is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of the stanchionplaced in a raised locked position on the casing and showing the covermounted on the upper end of the stanchion, with a rail member connectedthereto.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, i designates the deck of aboat or other surface, such as a floor, pier, wall, wharf, or highway,where it is desired to have a removable protective railing. The deck lhas openings or apertures 2 formed therein at spaced intervals apart,and flanged rings 3 secured in any suitable manner to the inner lowersurface thereof beneath apertures E as illustrated in l. Each flangedring 3 has an internal diameter less than the diameter of an aperture 2,and has a sleeve or casing t threadedly connected at its upper endthereto, as more particularly illustrated in Fig. 4.

The sleeves or casings fl depend downwardly from the hanged rings 3,concentric with the apertures 2 in the deck I, and are closed at theirlower ends by caps 5, each of which caps 5 is provided with a removableplug 6 for permitting any uid in the sleeves to be drained therefromshould they extend into the hull of a boat. A collar I having suitablyspaced, vertically extending grooves or slots 'I' is fitted within eachof the upper ends of the sleeves 4, with the upper surface of the collar'I being flush with the upper end of a sleeve and with the upper surfaceof a flanged ring 3, whereby a seat 8 is provided beneath each of theapertures 2 in which a top portion 9 on a cover I0 is adapted to seat.

Slidably mounted on the collars 'I on the upper ends of the sleeves 4are stanchions II which are adapted to be lowered into the sleeves, saidsleeves being made of a suitable length for receiving the slidingstanchions. The stanchions II are in the form of tubes having outerdiameters which are less than the inner diameters of the sleeves and thestanchions are closed at their lower vends by plates I2 and have stoprings I3 provided thereon adjacent to the bottom plates. The bottomplates I2 and stop rings I3 have suiiicient diameters to abut slidablyagainst the inner surfaces of the sleeves, whereby they act as guidesduring the raising or lowering of the stanchions on the sleeves.Adjacent to the upper surfaces of the vstop rings I3 are verticallyextending lugs I4 which are suitably secured and arranged in spacedformation around the outer circumferential surfaces of the stanchions.The outer surfaces of the lugs I4 are beveled downwardly and outwardly,with the lower ends of the lugs spaced from the upper surfaces of thestop rings I3 a distance at least equal to the thickness of the collars'I for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

The removable covers I each have a short tubular extension I5 projectingdownwardly therefrom, which tubular extension I5 is adapted to slidablyt within the upper end of a stanchion. The lower end of the tubularextension I5 on a cover is provided with a transversely eX- tendinganchor rod I6, to which a snap hook I'I, provided on one end of a chainor cable I8 forming the protective railing of the invention, is adaptedto be detachably connected when the chain I8 is not in use, said chainI8 being adapted to be stored in a stanchion II as illustrated in Fig.2. The diameters of the top portions 9 on the removable covers I0 aresubstantially the same as the diameters of the apertures 2 and are ofsubstantially the same thickness as the deck or other surface I, wherebywhen the stanchions II are mounted in the sleeves 4, the top portions 9on the removable covers III are ush with the deck and form noobstruction thereon. Hand gripping portions I9 are provided on the topportions 9 for removing the covers IGI from the upper ends of thestanchions II and transversely extending bolts 24 are mounted on thelower ends of the sleeves 4. The bolts 2/1 provide rests for thestanchions I I when lowered into inoperative positions within thesleeves.

Assuming that the stanchions I I, including the chain I8 forming a partof the protective railing of the invention as illustrated in Fig. 1,have been lowered into inoperative positions within the sleeves 4 withthe stanchions II resting on the bolts 25, and with the top portions 9on the cover members I0 fitted into the apertures 2, flush with thesurface I as illustrated in Fig. 2, and it is desired to easily andquickly form a protective railing on the surface, a cover I0 is firstremoved from the upper end of a stanchion by pulling upwardly on thecover by means of the hand gripping portion IS until the chain I8 isremoved from within the stanchion, which chain I8 is then removed fromthe anchor rod I6 on the tubular extension I5 of the cover by means ofthe snap hook II.

The snap hook II on one end of the chain I8 is then caused to engageeither of the holds 25 provided in the upper end of a stanchion and thestanchion is pulled upwardly by means of the chain I8, which causes thestanchion to be slidably raised in a sleeve, with the lugs I4 on thestanchion sliding up in the grooves 'I' in a collar I on the upper endof the sleeve. The stop rings I3 on the stanchions II prevent thestanchions from rising above a desired point on the sleeves by abuttingagainst the lower surfaces of the collars '1. The stanchions II are theneach given a quarter turn which causes the lugs I4 to become out ofalinement with the grooves 'I' in the collars "I and to cause the lowerends of the lugs to rest on the upper surfaces of the collars, therebypreventing the stanchions from going back into the sleeves, with thebottom plates I2 acting as stabilizers for the stanchions. The covermembers I@ are then mounted on the upper ends of the stanchions and thechain I8 is connected between the covers Ii) on the stanchions by meansof the snap hooks I'I and I1 which are caused to engage in holes 2Bformed in the top portions 9 on the cover members Iii. Lugs 2l areprovided on the cover members Iii, which lugs 2l are adapted to t intoslots Z2 formed in the upper ends of the stanchions, thus preventing thecover members from turning on the sleeves when the chain i8 is connectedtherebetween. A coiled tension spring 23 may be provided on the chain I8to keep it taut between the stanchions II.

When it is desired to remove the protective railing and return thestanchions II into the sleeves 4, the chain I8 is disconnected from thetop portions 9 of the covers I!! between the stanchions and one end ofthe chain is detachably connected to the anchor rod Iii on a cover Ii).The chain is then placed inside of a sleeve and the covers I0 aremounted on the upper ends of the stanchions, after which the stanchionsare lowered into the sleeves with the lower ends thereof resting on thebolts 24 on the lower ends of the sleeves and with the top portions 9 ofthe covers I0 tting into the openings 2 ush with the surface I therebypreventing any obstruction on the surface.

It will thus be seen that there is provided herein a novel and efcientform of protective railing which is well adapted for all of the purposesindicated. Even though there has been herein shown and described certainfeatures of construction and operation of parts, it is nevertheless tobe understood that various changes may be made therein if the changes donot depart from the spirit or scope of the claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality oftubular casings mounted at spaced point-s in said surface, collarscontaining grooves provided on said casings, stanchions slid ablymounted on said collars and adapted to be lowered into inoperativepositions within and to be raised to operative positions on saidcasings, lugs provided on said stanchions, said lugs adapted to passthrough said grooves in said collars upon the raising of saidstanchions, to operative positions on said casings, said stanchionsadapted to be rotated on said casings for moving said lugs out ofalinement with said grooves, whereby the stanchions are held fromreturning to said casings, and a rail member connected between saidstanchions.

2. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality oftubular casings mounted at spaced points in said surface, collarsmounted in the upper ends of said casings, stanchions slid ably mountedon said collars and adapted to be lowered into inoperative positionswithin and to be raised to operative positions on said casings, stoprings provided on said stanchions and coacting with said collars forlimiting the amount of raising of said stanchions on said casings, meansfor detachably locking said stanchions in operative positions on saidcasings, removable covers closing the upper ends of said stanchions, anda rail member connected between said covers.

3. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality oftubular casings closed at their lower ends and mounted at spaced pointsin said surface, tubular stanchions slidably mounted Within and adaptedto be raised to operative positions on said casings, plates closing thelower ends of said stanchions, means on the lower ends of said casingsfor supporting said stanchions within said casings, removable coversclosing the upper ends of said stanchions, and hand engaging portions onsaid covers whereby said covers may be grasped by the hand for removingsaid covers from the upper ends of said stanchions, and a rail memberconnected between said covers.

4. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality fsleeves mounted beneath apertures formed in said surface, said sleevesbeing closed at their lower ends and having col lars containing groovesmounted in their upper ends, stanchions slidably mounted on said collarsand adapted to be lowered into and raised to operative positions on saidsleeves, lugs provided on said stanchions, covers removably mounted onthe upper ends of said stanchions, said covers adapted to seat in theapertures in said surface and said lugs on said stanchions adapted topass through said grooves and coact with said collars for holding thestanchions in operative positions on said sleeves, and a rail memberconnected between said covers.

MARSHALL GRAY.

